


Backfire

by Tarlan



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, M/M, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 14:33:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8331397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: William only wanted a little attention after years spent alone in the Void but reactivating a Trouble had backfired on him and Nathan... or at least that's what he believed initially.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Trope Bingo Round 7 prompt: Sharing a bed.

Even though Nathan had selflessly given him Croatoan's portal ring believing William could use it to end his exile in the Void and go back to his own world, William knew better. His people would never welcome him back, but the thought of staying in the Void alone held even less appeal than facing Croatoan so he opened the portal to the only other world he'd ever found with life - Haven's world. By the time he stepped through the thinny Croatoan was gone, but William was definitely regretting his decision now.

He looked at the bed in dismay though it wasn't so much the bed with its flowery blanket and pink sheets as the man currently taking up one side of it. A few ideas popped into his head but he discarded each of them quickly because the other man, Nathan Wuornos, refused to be intimidated by him despite their history and current nudity. Ruthlessly, William shoved down any feelings of gratitude or begrudging respect because he didn't want to appear weak or pitiful to the human. Certainly he didn't want Nathan to know how often he had thought of him since their first meeting, with his feelings evolving from disdain towards an inferior rival, to intrigue, and finally to something fast surpassing the love he had once felt for Mara.

It was wrong. So very wrong to fall for a human.

It had to be.

"If you're so disgusted by the idea of sharing then there's always the floor," Nathan stated, voice soft but the glint in his eyes was hard.

"So kind of you to offer to take the floor," William replied sweetly but gained only a hard stare in return; a look that said 'I dare you to try and make me.'

William could feel his jaw twitching as he glanced across the room at the only possible alternative to the bed, but the idea of sitting naked in a straight-backed, cold, plastic armchair all night did not appeal in the slightest. Perhaps if he'd had some aether left then he could have intimidated Nathan into giving up the bed, but if he'd had access to any aether he wouldn't have been in this position in the first place. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he approached the bed and pulled back the thin cover, staring hard until Nathan got the message and rolled over onto his side, facing away from William.

The bed was lumpy in some places, too soft in others with pieces of fluff poking out through poorly sewn seams. It dipped alarmingly, almost tipping him sideways into Nathan, but it had never been built to take much weight. Eventually he settled on his back looking up at the plain white ceiling with the covers pulled up to his chin. Light in the world beyond the room had dimmed until only the silver of moonlight kept the shadows at bay; silence had fallen until William felt as if the whole world had shrunk down to this small, cold room with its rose-covered wallpaper, and the lumpy bed with its pink sheets and floral blanket. 

He shivered. He could feel the heat radiating from Nathan's body and moved just a fraction closer, leaving a slightly smaller gap between them than before.

"This wasn't supposed to affect me," William murmured, feeling a little bitterness doused with a lot of irony because this was exactly what he and Mara had been hoping to accomplish all those centuries ago; a means of using the aether against their own kind. It seemed Mara had succeeded while William was lost in the Void, exiled for a second time.

"I guess you're no better than human after all," Nathan replied smugly. "Now shut up and go to sleep. Audrey will fix this."

William snorted. "By Audrey you mean Paige... and that's if she even notices you're missing," he stabbed back snidely. "She has her other pretty boy to entertain her these days."

He chalked that up as a small win when Nathan tensed but tried to act all confused.

"Who? Crocker?"

Poor Nathan, he thought snidely, thinking of Duke Crocker. The man had captured the heart of this latest incarnation of Mara after managing to defeat death by being wished back into existence just as the Barn sucked all the aether back into the Void.

"You really thought she'd be just like Audrey, didn't you?" William smirked.

He could feel the waves of anger and bitterness radiating off Nathan just moments before his body went sailing off the side of the bed to land in a heap on the floor beside the bed. William cursed under his breath. He pushed back up to his feet clumsily and glared down at Nathan, who was visible in the moonlight.

"Childish," he stated.

"You can talk," Nathan retorted. "I wasn't the one who reactivated a Trouble just because I wanted a little attention." Nathan sneered. "Spectacular backfire, by the way."

William sat back down on the edge of the weird, lumpy bed. Five hundred years ago Carolyn Martenson had looked down on everyone, including his beloved Mara, so he troubled her. Everyone she touched from that day forward shrank to a few inches tall, with the curse afflicting only her female descendants each time the Troubles returned, right up until the day Audrey sent Croatoan into the newly-constructed Barn.

Audrey and Croatoan had removed the aether from all those Troubled but the coding was still written into their genes, now dormant. All it had needed was the smallest droplet of aether used by someone with the right skills to reactivate it.

William couldn't deny reactivating the Martenson curse in a young girl on a whim had ' _backfired spectacularly_ ', leaving both him and Nathan the size of small dolls; naked small dolls as their clothes had not shrunk with them. Now they were locked away inside a dollshouse as playthings of the little Martenson girl until someone noticed they were missing and figured out what had happened. Or rather, they had to wait until someone noticed Nathan was missing because William had a strong suspicion no one would care that he had disappeared too. He hadn't exactly endeared himself to anyone in this world on any occasion, past and present.

Shivering, he climbed back under the thin covers, deciding to stay quiet this time, and closed his eyes. When he opened them moments later he blinked in confusion because the moon had set and the sun was rising. Nathan was still a warm presence beside him and William couldn't resist turning his head to take advantage of this chance to study his handsome face. He startled a little when he realized Nathan was awake and staring back at him, a flush rising on Nathan's cheeks, blue eyes widening slightly, as if he'd been staring for a while, not expecting to get caught.

William had a split second to decide what to do, sneer in disdain or... 

Surging forward he kissed Nathan's slightly parted lips, surprising himself as well as Nathan. They stared at each other for several frantic heartbeats before both surged forward, each caught with grabbing hands and by plundering kisses, leg's entwining as they pressed together while rolling first one way then the other in a weird fight for dominance before Nathan's larger hand ended the battle. William thrust into Nathan's hand, too many centuries alone bringing him sweet release far too quickly, leaving him boneless as Nathan flipped him onto his front and pressed up behind him, thrusting against William's skin until he came. After a few moments Nathan rolled off onto his back, still pressed up against William, with one had covering his eyes as he fought to regain control of his harsh breathing. William rested his forehead against Nathan's shoulder, breathing in the warm, clean sweat evaporating from Nathan's skin.

The silence stretched between them; a comfortable silence for the first time even if William was anything but comfortable with the rapidly cooling mess from what they'd just done together. Yet he felt no particular urge to move and find a way to clean up. Eventually Nathan broke the silence.

"You were right. I thought she'd be just like Audrey... and she is for the most part."

"But she's like a twin sister," William muffled into Nathan's skin. "Got the looks, got the personality, but not got the history that made you fall in love with her." He finally moved, rolling onto his side to face Nathan and grimacing at the cold, dampness at his lower back. "That Audrey has gone. Just like Mara."

He knew that wasn't strictly true. Audrey was still living in the barn but she could never return to Haven as she was the emotional anchor helping to keep Mara's father from ever returning. All Audrey could do was send back a physical copy impressed with her personality but with someone else's memories. Paige had no recollection of Haven, or of Nathan; nothing to connect her to the events of the past few years, or five hundred years, or even to her alter-ego in the barn. Paige had a different past and present.

"I was touched starved.... but I'm not any longer."

William grinned and stated gleefully, "You mean, if I'd been sent back to Haven and Mara sent into exile, you'd have fallen for me."

Nathan glared back at him but William noticed he didn't deny it. William felt a momentary surge of resentment towards Mara, though more towards Howard who had chosen their ' _punishment_ '. Howard had called him a mindless beast and sent him into the Void in exile, but he'd given Mara the chance to redeem herself, over and over and over. But then, Howard had never liked him, making his disdain clear in every encounter even before that fateful day when he and the others had come for Mara... and for him. It grated to know he'd been punished while she'd been given a chance to redeem herself.

"My people like to believe they are better than you humans but they're no different. Same pettiness and jealousy. Same condescension for those they deem beneath them." He huffed. "Why do think I was punished while it turns out Mara, whose crimes by the way were way worse than mine, was given a chance at redemption?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Because her family had high standing in our community whereas I was the ' _boy from the wrong side of the tracks_ '."

"Doesn't justify what you did."

"What **we** did. Me and Mara together."

Nathan rolled to his side facing William and rose up on one elbow. "You want a shot at redemption?" He waved his hand to encompass their surroundings. "Well, here's your chance."

Two hours later Nathan and William were given an opportunity to escape from Sarah Martenson. Unlike Mara and Croatoan, William could not use the aether unless he was touching it so he led Nathan to where he had hidden the last droplet of aether. They headed back to the Martenson house, working together until William could press his aether-blackened hand against the young girl's leg and draw back all the aether from her body. Instantly they returned to normal size, grabbing whatever they could find to cover themselves as Sarah screamed. Her mother came running but they managed to escape just in time, hobbling through the woods in bare feet until they reached the place where Nathan had left his car.

He shared Nathan's bed that night and every night thereafter, using the last droplets of aether left in this world to link their life forces together for the rest of William's long - and mostly praiseworthy - life.

END  
 


End file.
